On politics in the Golden State

Jerry Brown - Meg Whitman debate: Greenhouse gas laws

Meg Whitman was asked about her opposition to Proposition 23, which would all but repeal the state's greenhouse gas law.

She repeated her familiar answer that she supports a one-year suspension of the law, but not the measure on the November ballot.

"AB 32 is going to do real damage to the 97% of the jobs in the rest of the economy," she said. "So, I called for a one-year moritorium on AB 32."

"We can be green and smart," she said, but we must be mindful of record-high unemployment. "What's wrong with taking a pause?" she asked.

Brown said Whitman was trying to have it both ways and that her proposal creates "regulatory uncertainty." He touted his plan to produce 20,000 megawatts of renewable energy in the state. "The people who are crying are two big oil companies in Texas and a petrochemical company in the Midwest," a reference to the funders of the Yes on 23 campaign.